It’s easy to be busy.
Not so easy to be productive.
To be effective, you must be productive.
Being busy won’t do.

Are you busy?
Are you productive?

If the answer is 1, change course.
If it’s 2, keep going.

On a country trip I realised the speed and passage of time.
I also realised the death of a product and the need for constant innovation, invention and initiative.

A rural phone box had died.
A sad carcass was all that remained in the pretty little village.
The brand name had faded far from its former glory and the death was painfully slow.

For me, it’s not long ago that these ultra modern, sleek, shiny steel boxes were new, brand new.
Today, mobiles, modems and everything else have killed what was once new.

Survival comes by constantly reinventing, moving and trying.
Death, just like a firework, will be yours if you don’t reinvent the minute your product is successful.

He dressed like a tramp, looked like a tramp, behaved as if he was destitute.
He wasn’t.
When everyone was gone he didn’t need the crutch that was his role playing prop.
He was a fraud, not a tramp.

That’s beside the point.
I could nearly have forgiven his enterprise (I didn’t).

What drew attention?
His language. No, not ‘bad’ language, his use of language.

His question?
“Have you any spare change Sir?”

In this day and age?

I was alone in a big department store trying desperately to offload my burning purse.
I looked here, I looked there but everybody was busy scurrying here, there, everywhere.
Funny thing was that the store was empty.

Eventually, a scurrying staff member could not avoid my roadblock.
He accelerated and hoped to ram through.
I stopped him and unleashed my question;

“Excuse me I’d like to buy …….”

Foot to the floor he accelerated away.
Glancing sideways he said;

“I don’t sell, I just work here.”

Everyone, that means everyone, who works in a business – yours, mine, his, hers – must sell and must own sales.
None of us can enjoy the luxury of “I just work here”.

Now check out your team!

A wise friend and colleague is responsible for giving this profound thought.
Make sure you share it too.
First, think about it.

There are only 2 reasons why you don’t do something.

You don’t want to.

You don’t know how.

Each should command a different response.

They are a big company.
They claim global reach.
Their products burst with testimonials.
I bought the message.

The Sales Rep came to my house.
The over sized suit and scruffy shoes were the first warning lights.
The global brand was not looking so hot.
The promise already under scrutiny.
Suspicions aroused.

Forgiving human imperfection I carried on and welcomed him in.
His first, very first remarks?

Not ‘Hello’.
Not ‘Good Evening’.
Not ‘How Are You’.

No, instead his slightly pained expression uttered the following;

“May I use your toilet?”

Not good.
Brand destroyed.
Game over.

Your brand is your business personality.
Have you reviewed it lately?
Should you?

If your brand says young, fun, energetic – are you? Are your people?
If your brand says sedate, serene, elegant, discreet – are you?

Now apply your ‘brand values’ and see if the behaviour matches the marketing.

A business is dependent on the market place.
Base your business on fact rather than fiction, on evidence rather than ‘a feeling’.
The more you research the less you risk.
The more you know, the more confident you will be.
The more you understand the easier to sell.

Remember that earlier Blog?

“Move from we think to we know.”

When times are testing you there will be choices, lots of choices.
Here’s two more!

Get yourself over the line, out of the storm and safely on to the beach.
Or,
Bring others with you too.

The choice is yours.

It’s tough out there for lots of small businesses.
We know, we see it every day.

When times are tough integrity will be tested.
Sometimes severely.

What you do in tough times and how you behave will be remembered.
Chose carefully.
Choose very carefully.

If you can’t afford something – say so.
If you can – say so.

Whatever you do, tell the truth.